Grover Family Foundation gift benefits LU Day of Giving
Lakeland University’s Day of Giving, set for April 16, has received a huge boost thanks to a $10,000 lead gift from the Grover Family Foundation, a longtime supporter of Lakeland.
The Grover Family Foundation was established by the late R. Bruce Grover, an accomplished Sheboygan business and community leader who had a 37-year career in plastics, including serving as chairman, CEO and owner of vinyl sheet maker VPI LLC in Sheboygan, Wis.
The foundation continues to celebrate his legacy and the entrepreneurial, inquisitive spirit of his family.
In 2014, the Grover Family Foundation, through Grover’s wife, Carol, and his daughter, Deb Wente, established a scholarship at Lakeland to annually support a student who lives in Sheboygan County and/or related area and has a dedication to academics.
Wente, also an accomplished civic leader in Sheboygan County who served as a member of the Lakeland Board of Trustees from 2005-2020, said Lakeland engrained itself with her family following her father’s death in November of 2014 thanks to a relationship with Lakeland students from Malawi, Africa.
Carol Grover donated some of her late husband’s coats to Malawi students for the winter, which quickly grew into a special relationship that set in motion fundraising to build water wells in the impoverished nation.
“The biggest thing was how much comfort she got from those students after my dad died,” Wente said. “She felt that the group that was here at the time gave her so much solace.”
A lover of international travel, Wente said she was initially attracted to Lakeland because of its international reach and diverse campus.
In her role as a trustee, Wente helped create the popular Movers & Shakers Gala in 2008, chairing the event’s organizing committee for numerous years and dancing in the event twice. Over its 12 years, Movers & Shakers raised approximately $2.3 million for Lakeland student scholarships and more than 35 public organizations.
“This gift to Lakeland’s Day of Giving celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit of Lakeland,” Wente said. “I love the Sheboygan County Scholars program and that Lakeland is working to keep talented people in the community. The Cooperative Education program provides students with a unique way to earn a degree.”
Gifts to Lakeland’s Day of Giving will support one of four areas:
The Grover Family Foundation’s Day of Giving gift deepens their connection to Lakeland and its mission.
Wente, a former leader at VPI and Kohler Co., continues her civic work, especially through Rotary International, for whom she has led international trips for local high school students.
It also keeps alive her father’s entrepreneurial spirit. Grover was honored with the prestigious Sheboygan Rotary Club Good Citizen Award in 2006, was named to the Wisconsin Business Hall of Fame in 2007 and was named among the Sheboygan Press' 100 People Who Shaped Sheboygan County.
We invite you to join Carol, Deb and the Grover Family Foundation by making a gift to Lakeland’s Day of Giving.
